Do You Believe in a Smiling god?
by Ikeda Rose
Summary: Run. Do not look around. Do not look back.


One night, I dreamed of StrexCorp. If you think that's bad, it was worse.

In the beginning I was watching myself in a canoe. I was with another girl, but I don't remember her name. We were paddling down a river in the middle of the Whispering Forest. I don't know how we got there or why we came, but we were running from something. This part never really explained itself. Then again, the Whispering Forest has never truely explained itself either.

We went down a side stream and came upon an old stone tunnel that continued into a hill. It was strange to think that there might be structures built there considering that the forest had simply materialized out of the blue one day.

We paddled through the echoing dark and came to a walkway built into the side of the tunnel. We left the canoe and made our onward, eventually ending up in a labyrinth of curving hallways that were lit by dim lights on the walls. The walls were covered in stucco, bronzy in the dim light. Our footsteps echoed on the floor.

I couldn't tell you how far we walked, but suddenly there was someone coming. We tried to hide, but they saw us and chased us into a room.

What truly happened in that room remains a mystery to me. I was in my own body again, but I was disoriented. I couldn't find the door (I don't think there was any door) and my eyes wouldn't focus, so I stumbled about like a zombie. There was a disembodied voice in my head asking me questions, and I was answering even though I couldn't think straight. Once I answered the questions, a door opened abruptly and the voice told me I could go.

I walked out of the room and found that I was in another dim hallway. I'd lost the girl who was with me. Perhaps she'd gotten out, or perhaps she was still trapped in the dizzying swirl of the room. I was still disoriented. I walked down the hall and passed an open door way. Through it was a massive room, dimly lit like the corridor I was in. Around the edge was a raised stone walkway, occupied by desks. Pairs of people sat across from one another. It seemed to be an interviewing process of sorts; I didn't look for very long.

The middle of the room was sunken and empty below the walkway. The far end was open and there were windows and steps that went down into the middle. The open end connected with the rest of the hallway. Eventually, I came around a corner and found a reception desk with a woman behind it. There were tall, curved glass doors next to her. When I glanced out of them, and could see children playing on a playground, some chasing each other over the woodchips.

I was still confused as to where I was and how I had gotten there. I was nowhere near the forest anymore. There wasn't a single pine in sight, only vast cloudless blue skies, and far beyond, a massive bluff jutting into the sky. Suddenly, the woman spoke to me and asked me if I was there for an Induction. I nodded blankly and she handed me some forms and told me to take a seat and wait.

I sat down on a chair that was part of a row. It was very stark and orderly in the waiting room. The walls were white and the chairs were black and square. Windows covered the opposite wall. I glanced at the papers but didn't really read them. The small print was strangely illegible; even when I squinted, it wouldn't come into focus long enough for me to read.

As I squinted, I suddenly realized that the papers said 'StrexCorp' on the top. My memory began to come back. I saw the sign over the desk, the image of the smiling god on the wall, the posters promoting correct education and looking around and meadows and finding the right solutions for your challenges. My heart began to race, but the desk woman was looking at me so I couldn't reveal how truly panicked I was.

Finally, a man came out of the large room. He was tall and smartly dressed, with dark eyes and dark hair. I shook his hand and introduced he himself as Daniel. He seemed nice enough, but then he smiled at me and I saw that his teeth were sharp and pointed. That cemented my realization that I was in a very bad situation. I needed to get out, but I didn't know how.

Daniel led me into the big room. As we walked on the platform, he was talking to me, but I barely heard him. There was another voice, inside my head. It was a girl's voice, young, but very powerful. She continued speaking as I sat down across from Daniel. _You need to leave,_ she said. _Now._ She must have been able to read my confused thoughts because she continued. _Do not look around. On your right._

I glanced in the way she'd said. The girl I'd come in with was sitting at the desk next to us. She suddenly stared at me out of the corner of her eye and I knew she could hear the girl as well. _Run,_ the voice commanded. I could hear Daniel asking me a question. Slowly, I looked up and locked eyes with him in a cold stare.

"No," I said, "I don't believe in a smiling god."

If Daniel had any reaction, I didn't stay long enough to catch it. My friend and I bolted for the door and raced down the hall, traveling back into the labyrinthine corridors. I could hear the shouts and running steps of the Strex agents behind us. The voice was still in my head._ Run. Don't look around, don't look back._

I wanted to shout at her, to ask where we were supposed to go, when we came to a door in the middle of the hallway. It was literally a doorframe set in the middle of the hallway. We ran through without hesitation and slammed it behind us . I trust it disappeared after that because no Strex agents followed, and there was no door on the other side when we came through. We were back in the woods by the river. Strangely, our canoe was there, though the tunnel was nowhere in sight.

_Paddle,_ said the voice. _Don't stop until you reach the door. Then, go through. You will be safe._

I figured there was no point in arguing; we had no idea where we were anymore. I don't know how long we paddled, only that it seemed like forever. Then, we saw the door. Next to the river, set apart from the trees, was an old stone wall. The door was set in the middle of it. It seemed strange to us, a door all the way out here. The wall wasn't protecting anything, it was just there.

The voice told us to let the canoe go, so we collected our packs and watched it drift on with the current; then, we went to the door. Compared to the rest of the wall, it looked like new. The paint was peeling, but it was not falling apart by any means. My friend opened it.

Immediately, a burst of hot air and dust hit us, and we found that we were inexplicably gazing out over the barren landscape of a desert.

"That's crazy," my friend mused, which seemed strange to me given what had just happened a while ago. There was a mountain in the distance, and we could just make out a light blinking on the top. I slowly began to realize where we were. We stepped into the new plane of existence. The door shut itself behind us. When I tried to open it again, the only thing I saw was the other side of the desert. We were here for good.

A different voice sounded in my head now, an older one.

_Go toward the mountain,_ she said.

And we did.


End file.
